1[singular]TTWWATER the way the sea moves up and down 海面的起伏,浪涌
The sea wasn’t rough, but there was a heavy swell (=large movements of the water).
海面不算是波涛汹涌,但起伏很大。
2[singular] a situation in which something increases in number or amount 增加;增多
swell of
the growing swell of anti-government feeling
反政府情绪的日益高涨
a swell of pride
自豪感的增强
3.[singular]CAPM an increase in sound level, especially in music 〔尤指音乐〕音量逐渐增强SYN crescendo
4[singular]ROUND the roundness or curved shape of something 膨胀;鼓起;隆起
the firm swell of her breasts
她挺拔的乳峰
5.[countableC] old-fashionedIMPORTANT a fashionable or important person 时髦人物;头面人物,要人
Examples from the Corpus
swell• A strong north-westerly wind built up a fifteen-foot swell which came rolling down on us, crests breaking.• A heavyswell came at them out of the thickdarkness.• The scandal has produced swells of protest against him.• One such dawn breaks at OceanBeach and the swell is up.• The launch, however, behaved like a well-trained work-horse and merely rose and fell with the swell.• the swell of her breasts• The swell had built steadily over the past half-hour.• The eternalwesterlyswell rolled lazily across our wake and wiped out the last trace of our intrusion.
heavy swell• A heavy swell came at them out of the thick darkness.• The timing in the heavy swell had to be carefully judged.